A Trip to the Park
by Lilypad18
Summary: Percy and Annabeth take their children to the park and along with this trip, they look back on some memories.


Annabeth smiled once she felt her daughter's hand leave her grasp, she also watched her son run away from Percy's side. The children squealed in delight once the colorful playground was in sight, their heels making mulch jump into the air with their energetically expectant steps.

Annabeth'll admit it: she's pretty jealous of her children. She was jealous because her parents never brought her to the playground. Heck, she never even had both of her parents around, literally and metaphorically. Her father was lost in the world of crafting model airplanes while her mother was lost in her world of ignorance, creating battle strategies on Olympus.

Whenever she thought of this, she would usually push it out of her mind.

Annabeth and Percy chose their usual spot on one of the benches in the pavilion that was near the playground. Annabeth knew he had chosen this spot because it reminded him of the mess hall at Camp Half-Blood. It was special to her too: that's where they shared their second kiss.

Annabeth felt Percy's arm snake around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him. She automatically smiled, fulfilling his request. He placed a kiss on her head, rewarding her for her deed. She fought to roll her eyes, her attention returning to her children.

Annabeth saw that Chase landed on his butt when he finished sliding off of the slide, getting some dirty mulch on his shorts. Annabeth thought he would burst into tears, but instead, he let out a contented chuckle, accompanied with a clap of his hands, as if he was making fun of himself. Annabeth smirked, her eyes going over to her daughter.

As usual, she was working with the monkey bars, her legs swinging wildly in the air in order to keep her mojo going. Her hands swiftly moved from one metal bar to the other without any hesitation of the sort, it was like she already had planned out every move. Annabeth was thoroughly impressed.

Sophia let go of the current bar, jumping down, she always ended up ignoring the ladder that led down to the ground. Once she landed on her feet with a thud, she raised her hands in the air up towards the sky; her head held high, she was beaming with success. Annabeth felt Percy pull away from his wife, instantly clapping in response. Sophia's head snapped towards her father, her smile somehow managing to widen even more. She skipped over to him.

"How did I do, Daddy?" She asked, her hands by her sides. Percy gave her daughter a smile as he decided his final score; he held ten fingers up before speaking.

"For fabulous swinging and presentation, I give you a ten." He announced, making his voice sound just as cheesy as a game show host. Sophia clasped her hands together in graciousness.

"Thank you, thank you," She started to bow, her hand over her heart; she was acting just as tacky as her father. Annabeth couldn't help but smile and applaud her daughter along with her husband. She soon saw her son tumbling over to them.

"What's going on? I hear clapping that's not for me!" Sophia turned to her brother.

"That's 'cause it's not for you, Chase." And with that, the four year old stomped back to the playground, arms stubbornly crossed. Chase merely shrugged, following his sister back to the playground.

Annabeth soon saw that the two had forgiven each other for barely bickering. They were now playing on the swings, taking patient turns on pushing each other. Chase nearly got kicked in the face when he took the leap of faith with walking in front of Sophia as she swung, forward, legs outstretched in the air. Her current position reminded her of the monkey bars.

Chase managed to fall on his butt…again as he tried to dodge Sophia's legs. Annabeth had just laundered those shorts from the disaster of last night: Chase, for some reason, made the faucet explode all over him as he was washing his hands for a nice lunch of chicken nuggets. She guessed that he was previously mad at something, and took his anger out at the poor faucet.

Percy offered his help with drying the boy's shorts, but Annabeth could see that he was tired from work, his green eyes weary, his hair looking like a tumbleweed itself from wearily running his hands through it. He had a tendency to do that, she didn't want to tire him out anymore.

The mom, however, ignored her slight feeling of anger with letting out a laugh.

Percy's eyes went to her, and he gave her a questioning look, one of his eyebrows raised. Annabeth only shook her head.

"Chase reminds me a lot of you." She said, crossing her legs. "With being clumsy and all," Percy looked shockingly insulted after her statement, even if her knew she was only joking.

"Excuse me, WiseGirl, but I think you're forgetting who saved Olympus here." Annabeth smirked, rolling her eyes.

"Oh please, you couldn't have done that without me by your side." One of Percy's eyebrows rose, he knew she was acting like this because of the hubris.

"Probably," He admitted. "But, personally, I'm glad we both survived, not to mention that you were by my side." Percy escaped her verbal chokehold with a suavely sweet confession. But, he could see Annabeth's eyes darken as she remembered the memories of that merciless time.

Because of the look that molded on her face, he knew she was thinking about Silena and Charlie. His thoughts tended to float to the ironic couple from time to time also. Whenever this would happen, he would feel the same amount of pressuring guilt place on his shoulders just like it did as he discovered that his fellow camper didn't make it back from the Princess Andromeda.

Along with Calypso, those two would also be his biggest _what if. _

Percy's hand found Annabeth's and he tightly took it in his grasp searching for comfort, he felt her head rest on his shoulder in response. Annabeth has always understood how Percy felt about them. It was probably because she felt the way too.

Just then, steps pitter pattered towards them. They both discovered that it was only their children, calling quits for the day. Annabeth recognized that they looked tired: Sophia's ponytail rested on the nape of her neck, it was merely a bundle of curls being held together by a uselessly almost-broken hair tie. Chase's eyelids were drooping heavily. To Annabeth, it looked like he was going to fall over at any minute.

The mother stood up, picking her son up in her arms, resting him on her hip. The boy rested his head on her shoulder, officially closing his eyes now that he knew he was safe. Sophia reached her hands up to her father who replied by throwing the girl on his back. She let out a giggle as she eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck. Annabeth could see her daughter's sandals resting on her husband's chest, Percy's hands wrapping around her legs, supporting her.

Together, the family walked away from the park with words unspoken.


End file.
